Trump dominates the Iowa Senate debate from afar

Reported by NBC News. The paragraphs below are the opening of that article, reproduced word for word — not a summary, and not the whole piece.

President Donald Trump was the main character in a televised Iowa Senate debate Wednesday night between Democrat Josh Turek, a state representative, and Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson.

Turek hammered Hinson for supporting Trump policies that he says are the culprit in rising costs for Iowa families — from “chaotic tariffs” to the war in Iran — whether they live in cities or on farms.

“The real issue is that Iowans are hurting, and they’re hurting uniquely,” Turek said. “I’m hearing ‘I’m struggling to keep food on the table, I’m struggling to pay my electric bill, I’m struggling to keep a roof above my head,’ and now with this war in Iran, ‘I’m struggling just to keep gas in my tank.’” He noted that Hinson voted seven times against curtailing the war and five times against reining in Trump’s tariffs.

Hinson fired back, accusing Turek of skipping out on votes in the Legislature, being “too liberal” for the state and lying when he accused her of using her position to enrich her family.

“It’s one thing to vote like an East Coast liberal; it’s another to lie like them,” she said. At another point, she jabbed Turek for flip-flopping on his willingness to legislate with Trump. “You trashed the president during the primary, and now you’re doing ads saying you’re going to work with him,” she said. “It’s a tale of two Tureks.”

But by modern standards, the debate over a Senate seat that is one of a handful that will determine party control of the chamber was unusually civil. Hinson expressed her sympathy over Turek’s sister’s being diagnosed with cancer, and Turek nodded to the pain negative ads caused both candidates. And both of them pledged to work with Trump or a future Democratic president.